Football Matters: Chelsea, The Future Under Conte (Part Three)

In the first two parts of this blog I reviewed Conte's new 3-4-3 system and how both the players we have in the first team now have a future in this formation and also those we have out on loan. In this third and final segment I'll look at some of the players I feel would improve our squad. I compiled this list with the help of my good friend Rob Paxton who has been my discussion partner with all things football for nearly twenty years now.

There are some positions where we could do with an improvement and other where we just need reinforcement. It's difficult in the team's current form of seven wins from seven games to argue that any area needs improving really.

CENTRE BACK

The first area I feel we need to address is the centre backs. With three at the back you need a good quantity of fast and intelligent defenders but with John Terry lacking any pace and a question mark over Gary Cahill's form it leaves us with just David Luiz as a natural centre back with full fitness. Cesar Azpilicueta has covered admirably at right centre back but is that his future role or just a temporary one? I think it's the latter. We have Kurt Zouma back from injury soon as his fitness continues to improve and hopefully we will have Andreas Christensen back next season from BMG. So if we look at three centre backs being Luiz, Zouma and Christensen we still need some squad bolstering if not a little improvement. I've listed ten main candidates that I'd like to be considered and although the list is not in any particular order the top three are my preferred targets.

Player: Raphael Varane

Nationality: French (35 caps, 2 goals)

Age: 23

Club: Real Madrid

Varane has been on my Chelsea wish list for a few years now, first as an exciting prospect and now as an established international. Having Zouma and Kante in the first team with him would be an obvious benefit and having played at Real since joining them from Lens in 2011 he has experience of big games and winning trophies. Real would likely be reluctant to sell so he would cost a high amount although I would be happy to offer a player like Oscar in part exchange.

Player: Leonardo Bonucci

Nationality: Italian (67 caps, 4 goals)

Age: 30

Club: Juventus

Although this transfer has been mentioned in the press since Conte first took the job I think it's unrealistic personally. He would be ideal for the role which is why I've included him but I don't believe he would leave Juventus even though he has played under Conte before them and for Italy. He has great experience of playing in a back three but the trio of him, Chiellini and Barzagli go together so naturally it would be hard to think of him leaving that. At 30 I would also question whether the fee that he would cost would be worth it in the long run.

Player: 'Sokratis' Papastathopoulos

Nationality: Greek (71 caps, 2 goals)

Age: 28

Club: Borussia Dortmund

Sokratis joined Dortmund in 2013 from Werder Bremen and whenever I see him play he is one of those players that coins the phrase 'rock at the back'. Much as Luiz is for us at the moment, Sokratis is often the one heading away crosses and getting in last ditch tackles. He is currently the second most capped player in the Greek squad behind Vasilis Torosidis. As a regular in Dortmund's back line he would be expensive but alongside Luiz he would be a natural selection in a back three leaving the other players to fight for the third spot.

Player: Kostas Manolas

Nationality: Greek (27 caps)

Age: 25

Club: Roma

While we're discussing Greek centre backs there's this guy too. You wait years for a great Greek centre back and then they send too. Manolas joined Roma in 2014 from Olympiacos for about £12.75m and has developed well since then. The timing could be right for him to be looking for the next big move however he is not only Roma's first choice centre back but also one of their only permanent players in that position as both Thomas Vermaelen (Barcelona) and Federico Fazio (Tottenham Hotspur) are on loan.

Player: Alessio Romagnoli

Nationality: Italian (4 caps)

Age: 21

Club: AC Milan

Staying in Italy we have the prodigious young talent that is Romagnoli. The 21 year-old Milan player joined at the San Siro in 2015 after coming through Roma's youth ranks to their first team. The fee was around £21m which shows the future he is expected to have. Considering Chelsea were going spend in the region of the £47.5m that Man City did spend on John Stones he was probably value for money. If Chelsea could get Romagnoli for somewhere between £25m-£40m then it could be a sound investment and then with the Italian alongside Zouma and Christensen we would have a very bright future in our back three. This is a player suggested by my mate Rob and a selection I cannot fault.

Player: Kalidou Koulibaly

Nationality: Senegalese (6 caps)

Age: 25

Club: Napoli

One last player from Italy then and it's one that we were heavily linked with over the summer. He wasn't on my radar before then really so I don't know too much about him other than he has been watched by our scouts with a view to a move to London. Before Napoli he played for Metz (France) and Genk (Belgium) and while I'm not suggesting that he is the next Papy Djilobodji I'm not sure there aren't better players out there. I've included him on the list due to his links already being in place.

Player: Marquinhos

Nationality: Brazilian (17 caps)

Age: 22

Club: Paris St Germain

Marquinhos ticks more boxes than a sadistic driving examiner. At 22 years old he is the right age to get the best out of him for a long time and he would sit beautifully in a squad with Zouma and Christensen (I also keep forgetting to mention others we have like Kalas, Ake and Omeruo of course). As a Brazilian player he would (hopefully) gel well with Luiz, Willian, Oscar (if he stays), Costa (he's still Brazilian really) and Kenedy. He has also probably played alongside Luiz for both PSG and Brazil although his options to play were limited when Sideshow Bob was in Paris due to his partnership with club captain Thiago Silva. He's won titles with PSG and has plenty of big game experience with them in Europe. He was even expected to leave in the summer but that was probably before we bought Luiz. Of the players on this list I think he is one of the main ones I'd like to see actually.

Player: Winston Reid

Nationality: New Zealander (20 caps, 1 goal)

Age: 28

Club: West Ham United

Although I often look overseas when suggesting signings for Chelsea there are a couple of players in the EPL worth looking at too. The problem with buying 'internally' is that the transfer fee is usually far more than is reasonable. The other issue with Reid is that he plays for West Ham and you wonder how well our fans would receive a player from our bitter rivals. That being said it has happened in London before when Ashley Cole left Arsenal for us and when Sol Campbell joined the Gunners from Spurs. It just doesn't happen very often. Reid joined the Hammers from Danish side Midtjylland in 2010 and since they came back into the Premier League in 2012 his stock has been rising year upon year. When pundits first started singing his praises I waited to see if he would be a flash in the pan with one good season in him (like the Jamie Vardy of centre backs) but he has continued to play well and would certainly be one to consider.

Player: Virgil van Dijk

Nationality: Dutch (12 caps)

Age: 25

Club: Southampton

Another player getting great press lately is Saints' defender van Dijk who joined them in 2015 after two years at Celtic. He's certainly a player the Southampton fans would love to keep hold of but we know by now that the south coast club has a history of selling their best players. He's one player who I think is going to be at a big four club within the next two seasons and if that's the case then he is as good as any name on this list.

Player: Aymeric Laporte

Nationality: French (former U19 international)

Age: 22

Club: Athletic Bilbao

He's the only player on this list still to be capped which may mean I'm off target with this one but he is a young, developing talent at a Bilbao side that performed above expectations last season and is seen by the producers of the Football Manager and FIFA games as someone with a great future in the game. Now I'm not putting all my eggs in the basket of the game developers as they do often get them wrong too but for the majority of the time their scouts are as good if not better than professional clubs when highlighting future talent. On that basis I'm putting Laporte on the list as one to watch.

Who came close? Jonathan Tah – German (3 caps) – 20 years old – Bayer Leverkusen

Diego Godin – Uruguayan (106 caps, 8 goals) – 30 years old – Atletico Madrid

Michael Keane – English (uncapped) – 23 years old – Burnley

Niklas Sule – German (1 cap) – 21 years old – Hoffenheim

Matija Nastasic – Serbian (23 caps) – 23 years old – Schalke 04

WING BACKS

Here's a tricky position to scout for. On the right you have Victor Moses, traditionally a striker or winger who has suddenly found his niche at right wing back. So much so that he is being touted as a Premier League player of the month for November by many rival fans and is surely a consideration for player of the year if he continues in this form. Now if we sign another right wing back do you look for an established star on the basis that Moses may not always perform at this level and will eventually be cover or do you look for cover for Moses. It seems too early to tell and hopefully by January or even the summer we'll have a better idea. On the left we have Marcos Alonso who is doing okay but I wouldn't say that he is thrilling me there, maybe because Moses is shining so much on the right. Bearing in mind we have a left back out on loan in Baba Rahman and for me the natural left wing back of the future in Kenedy it makes looking at possible left wing back signings quite difficult. I do feel though that we lack depth in these wide defensive roles so I've at least come up with some suggestions although most would expect to be starting games. The problem with these positions is that they are rarely used and therefore when they are the players that we know play there are already experienced players. It's not often anyone is touted as a 17 year-old right wing back of the future. One final point to make again from Part 2 of this feature is that one player I believe that should not have left on loan is Cuadrado but it is apparent from the terms of his loan that he is not coming back.

Player: Serge Aurier

Nationality: Ivorian (31 caps)

Age: 23

Club: Paris St Germain

Like with Varane, Aurier is a player I've followed for some time and even with a flat back four I wanted him at Chelsea. With Ivanovic being one of our worst performers in the past 24 months this has been the key position that I wanted to improve and even last season feel we would have been a better side with Azpilicueta on the left and Aurier on the right. He's not a natural winger so would play more like Alonso than Moses in style but he is a full back who is still confident going forward. Although he had a disciplinary issue with the club eight months ago he appears to have rebuilt his bridges now so it may not be as easy to sign him these days. He would certainly need to be considered a starter if he signed and that won't happen with Moses in such fine form.

Player: Michail Antonio

Nationality: English (uncapped)

Age: 26

Club: West Ham United

After Winston Reid earlier here is another West Ham player on my list. In fact the only two players I can consider at the moment for the right wing back role other than Moses is Aurier and Antonio. I have no idea how Antonio has not been capped yet and consider it a huge oversight by Roy Hodgson, Sam Allardyce and Gareth Southgate. Although his previous clubs were Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest in the Championship he was fantastic on the right last season for West Ham and deserved a spot in the Euro 2016 squad. He has also been in great form this season with six goals in thirteen games so far which is better than a lot of strikers. The nearest Hammer on the goal scoring list is Manuel Lanzini on three. Antonio does everything that Moses does and just as well so if we had both then they would deserve a rotation to share the role. It would certainly be a consideration next season when we're back in Europe.

Player: Fabio Coentrao

Nationality: Portuguese (51 caps, 5 goals)

Age: 28

Club: Real Madrid

It seems like Coentrao has been around forever so I was surprised to see he was still 28 years old which helped me decide to put him on this list. If I was looking at Real Madrid for an ideal replacement for Marcos Alonso I'd pick Marcello but it would be nigh on impossible to sign him. Since joining Real from Benfica for £25m in 2011 Coentrao has found it a tough fight for starting spot (so much so he was on loan at Monaco last season) and although he is no Marcello he would be an improvement to our team.

Player: Mattia De Sciglio

Nationality: Italian (30 caps)

Age: 24

Club: AC Milan

Although Milan have been a declining force in recent years one good thing to come from the San Siro has been this young lad. The glory days of Seedorf, Maldini, Kaka, Inzaghi and Gattuso that lifted the 2007 UEFA Champions League trophy are well behind them and Milan are without major trophy since 2011. It may not seem like a long time to most fans but for a team like AC that's an age. The fact that De Sciglio is a product of the Milan youth academy would make him much harder to sign. Something tells me that he could be a player like Maldini who plays for Milan his whole career. He made his debut for them in 2011 aged 19 and won his first cap in March 2013 aged 20. He was a part of Conte's Euro 2016 squad with Italy and I bet the manager would love to work with him again.

Player: Jose Gaya

Nationality: Spanish

Age: 21

Club: Valencia

This is another player I've learned about through gaming media rather than real life football media so like Laporte above I would have to hope that the prediction of a bright future is correct. With Kenedy and Rahman already in our ranks we probably don't need another prospect but if we did then this player is highly rated.

Who came close? Lukasz Piszczek – Polish (53 caps, 2 goals) – 31 years old – Borussia Dortmund

Djibril Sidibe – French (6 caps) – 24 years old – Monaco

Tin Jedvaj – Croatian (4 caps) – 21 years old – Bayer Leverkusen

Seamus Coleman – Irish (42 caps, 1 goal) – 28 years old – Everton

CENTRAL MIDFIELD

Both Kante and Matic have been fantastic this season but it's clear we need depth in cover. Fabregas and Oscar are too attack minded to fit with the style of play needed to protect our back three. Chalobah is still developing however I believe he is certainly one for the future. Loftus-Cheek is probably in the same category as Fabregas. Mikel just doesn't have the awareness to play the defensive side of the role and often loses the ball if he joins an attack. We therefore need players that can rotate with the existing duo or maybe even oust Matic from the preferred XI. Here are my ten to ponder.

Player: Marco Verratti

Nationality: Italian (19 caps, 1 goal)

Age: 24

Club: Paris St Germain

He's not the first PSG player I've listed and trust me he isn't the last. They have a good number of players who would fit so well at Chelsea and we'd have more chance of signing than if we tried to raid Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Now Verratti is more of a suggestion from my mate Rob but I'm starting to warm to the idea. I've never doubted his engine or his ability but have had doubts regarding his temperament. It's taken some time for us to shake Costa out of his 'fight first, football later' approach but perhaps Conte is the man to curb that with Verratti too if we signed him. Credit to PSG scouting him as unlike some of their other big money buys for established stars the Italian joined from Pescara in 2012 who just won Italy's Serie B title. He was in Italy's 2014 World Cup squad but missed Euro 2016 through injury. He would fit beautifully next to Kante and although I'm a big fan of Matic I think Verratti would improve our midfield.

Player: Blaise Matuidi

Nationality: French (55 caps, 8)

Age: 29

Club: Paris St Germain

If we didn't get Verratti then who better to pair Kante with than his international midfield partner. Signed from St Etienne in 2011 for a bargain £6m the 29 year-old is a great box to box midfielder who would be a perfect fit for the team and rotate well in the two midfield roles with Kante and Matic as well as one or two younger players like Chalobah, Loftus-Cheek and Pasalic. The disadvantage compared to his PSG team-mate Verratti is that Matuidi is five years older and ideally I'd like someone between 21 and 27 years old.

Player: Radja Nainggolan

Nationality: Belgian (24 caps, 6 goals)

Age: 28

Club: Roma

Here I am saying above that I want a midfielder between 21 and 27 yet truth be told Nainggolan is my number one pick to sign. I don't just mean out of the central midfielders either but out of all of the players listed here I'd sign him first. Unfortunately he may be on this list in vain as when he was a confirmed target of ours in the summer he confirmed he didn't want to join. Now if that was because we didn't have any European football to offer then perhaps that will be a different story next summer. Although he is Belgian he has spent his entire career in Italy since he joined the Piacenza youth team in 2005 We love our Belgians at Chelsea (unless you're the manager who sells Kevin de Bruyne and Thorgan Hazard) and Nainggolan would fit well with Hazard and Courtois.

Player: Claudio Marchisio

Nationality: Italian (54 caps, 5 goals)

Age: 30

Club: Juventus

While Marchisio would be an ideal signing for Chelsea there are various reasons why I don't think it would happen. For starters he's 30 years old now which goes against our policy of buying twenty-somethings. He has also been at Juve joining as a child in 1993 so the chances that he would now walk away after 23-24 years even for a few extra pounds are quite slim (to none). Given that he is the versatile heart of the Juventus midfield he would also be expensive. He is still on this list though as this is my wish list and while I've avoided a number of unobtainable world stars we have to include the odd one and this is one that both my mate Rob and I agree on.

Player: Luis Gustavo

Nationality: Brazilian (41 caps, 2 goals)

Age: 29

Club: Wolfsburg

Gustavo is probably one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe not to be playing for one of the biggest teams in Europe. I mean that as no insult to Wolfsburg as they are my favourite Bundesliga team but if you look outside the top 10-12 clubs in Europe then there is probably no better player in his role. He signed from Bayern Munich with his last match for them being the 2013 UEFA Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund. He has also been in the Brazil squad since 2011 and is approaching fifty caps for them. Although he is very important to the VW owned club he may be cheaper than some names on this list.

Player: Ignacio Camacho

Nationality: Spanish (1 cap)

Age: 26

Club: Malaga

Sometimes you come across an unknown or obscure player in Football Manager or FIFA games that stick with you. You keep an eye on their career and when they become successful you can appreciate having seen their journey. One player who has not completed that journey yet is Camacho but he could be one big transfer away from making it happen. I remember back in around 2005 or 2006 playing the FM game as Liverpool manager at the time (it's bad that I can even remember which club I was managing) and signing a young Argentine striker from Independiente called Aguero. He was a sensation in the game as a star of the future and of course he went on to be one of the best strikers in the world. He's one of those players I remember mentioning to Rob as one to watch out for and over the years we've built up our own lists of 'our players' that we 'spotted'. If ever Khouma Babacar turns into the new Samuel Eto'o or Didier Drogba then I've got that one covered. Anyway, Camacho was one of Rob's 'spots' from a FIFA game where I think we were doing a Nottingham Forest challenge. His name has stuck with both of us and I keep an eye on how he's doing. I even signed him for my Chelsea side on FM2017 Handheld.

Player: Ever Banega

Nationality: Argentine (51 caps, 4 goals)

Age: 28

Club: Inter Milan

Banega is another player I saw in an earlier version of Football Manager and after eight years in Spain he just moved to Inter Milan this summer. It may mean that he won't move to Chelsea any time soon but he's certainly a player I'd like to see at Stamford Bridge if the chance came up. Although he is more attack minded than Kante or Matic he can play in a defensive midfield role too. Given the way the pair of midfielders we have exchange going forward with attacks and covering at the back between them it seems he would have the ideal abilities for that.

Player: Jack Wilshere

Nationality: English (34 caps, 2 goals)

Age: 24

Club: Arsenal (on loan at Bournemouth)

I'm not 100% convinced by this suggestion but I could be. The England international is too good to be on loan at a mid-table at best Premier League club and if Arsene Wenger doesn't rate him enough to keep him then I'd try him at Stamford Bridge. There's an obvious question mark over his fitness or more accurately his likelihood of injury so any fee would need to be low and most of his wages on a pay as you play basis. He's also been at Arsenal since joining in 2001 aged 9 so would be reluctant to leave.

Player: Lars Bender

Nationality: German (19 caps, 4 goals)

Age: 27

Club: Bayer Leverkusen

You could make a case for signing either Sven or Lars Bender and I'm sure many players of Football Manager have put them side by side in midfield before just like they did for 1860 Munich between 2006 and 2009. Both are essential to their respective sides (Borussia Dortmund for Sven and Leverkusen for Lars) but I feel Lars would be easier to sign. Lars joined Leverkusen in the summer of 2009 and has played 230 times for them but it seems that if he wants to win silverware before he retires then he will need a move away. Leverkusen have never won the Bundesliga but have been runners-up five times, the last in 2010-11.

Player: Geoffrey Kondogbia

Nationality: French (5 caps)

Age: 23

Club: Inter Milan

For my final choice I'm looking at a young French player who I think has a big future ahead of him. Prior to a £26m to Inter in 2015 Kondogbia played for Lens, Sevilla and Monaco never staying at any club for more than two seasons. With this being his second season at the San Siro could he get itchy feet again next summer? It's rare for a player to be considered a 'journeyman' by the age of 23 but the only question mark for me is why he changes clubs so often. If we linked him with Kante in midfield I believe we would have the ultimate French Connection.

Who came close? Etienne Capoue – French (7 caps, 1 goal) – 28 years old – Watford

Adrien Silva – Portuguese (15 caps) – 27 years old – Sporting Lisbon

William Carvalho – Portuguese (29 caps, 1 goal) – 24 years old – Sporting Lisbon

Youri Tielemans – Belgian (1 cap) – 19 years old – Anderlecht

James McCarthy – Irish (41 caps) – 26 years old – Everton

Axel Witsel – Belgian (76 caps, 8 goals) – 27 years old – Zenit St Petersburg

Miguel Veloso – Portuguese (56 caps, 3 goals) – 30 years old – Genoa

Godfred Donsah – Ghanaian (uncapped) – 20 years old – Bologna

Yussuf Poulsen – Danish (16 caps, 3 goals) – 22 years old – RB Leipzig

WIDE ATTACK

The 3-4-3 system opens up more opportunities for a wide attacker to express himself than 4-1-3-2 and we've already seen Hazard and Pedro flourish with the freedom the formation allows. We don't have a lot of depth to cover injuries and suspensions though and once we get back into Europe we'll need more players. Willian can play on the right and if he wasn't at right wing back then Moses could play on either side. We still need more players though and I believe some on this list would push Pedro to the bench to be an impact substitution for either side.

Player: Antoine Griezmann

Nationality: French (39 caps, 14 goals)

Age: 25

Club: Atletico Madrid

Although predominantly a striker I feel Griezmann has all the attributes to play in a wide attacking role. The thought of a Hazard, Costa, Griezmann front three is mouth watering. I also considered another French striker, Alexander Lacazette, in a similar way but didn't put him on the Top 10. Although I'd love to see Griezmann at Stamford Bridge it appears this will only be when his is a visitor with Manchester United as the odds are high that he will join to link up with his countryman Paul Pogba. He joined Atletico from Real Sociedad in 2014 for £25m but is worth at least double that now.

Player: Angel Di Maria

Nationality: Argentine (82 caps, 18 goals)

Age: 28

Club: Paris St Germain

Manchester United fans would probably scoff at this suggestion but there is no doubting the Argentine international's ability and I believe he was the right player at the wrong time at Old Trafford. One average season at United under Louis van Gaal cannot be allowed to blacken the wingers career who has been a success at Real Madrid before and Paris St Germain afterwards. He went to PSG for £44m in 2015 and in his first season set a new records for the number of assists in Ligue 1. Of course it helps that he was part of a rampant title winning side that won 30 of their 38 games last season and scored 102 goals in the process.

Player: Hulk

Nationality: Brazilian (48 caps, 12 goals)

Age: 30

Club: Shanghai International Port Group FC

Is Hulk one of the best players to have never played at one of the biggest clubs in Europe or indeed in any of the top leagues? Perhaps the time has passed for a player who you would think has something to prove still but surely he doesn't want to finish his career in the Chinese Super League even if it does put extra money in the bank. After starting his career at Esporte Clube Vitoria in Brazil he moved to Japan where between 2005 and 2008 he played for Kawasaki Frontale, Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo and Tokyo Verdy before joining FC Porto. He spent four seasons in Portugal and four seasons in Russia with Zenit St Petersburg after a £34m transfer winning three league titles with the former and one with the latter. I think it would be great to see him in the Premier League before he retires and before he gets too old to perform at his best.

Player: Yannick Ferreria Carasco

Nationality: Belgian (15 caps, 4 goals)

Age: 23

Club: Atletico Madrid

Belgium have many exciting prospects at the moment and one of them is Carasco who plays on the wing for Atletico. Having developed in the youth ranks at Genk he joined Monaco in 2010 aged 17 and made his debut for them in 2012. After three seasons he moved to the Vicente Calderon Stadium when Atletico signed him for £17m. He's already part of the Belgian national team and an undoubted star of the future. This is a player that both myself and Rob put on the list.

Player: Keita Balde Diao

Nationality: Senegalese (5 caps, 2 goals)

Age: 21

Club: Lazio

Also known as Balde Keita the Senegalese winger has been a regular for Lazio in the last three seasons. He trained with Barcelona's academy between 2004 and 2011 but was sold to Lazio for a meagre £254,000 after falling out with the club. After the two years it took to gain EU citizenship to be registered by the club (he played for the youth team in the meantime) he made his debut in 2013 and has been a rising star since. Playing in Italy he hasn't attracted the same headlines as he would in England, Spain or Germany and may well be under the radar for a number of clubs.

Player: Felipe Anderson

Nationality: Brazilian (1 cap)

Age: 23

Club: Lazio

Staying with Lazio, we have a selection for the list by Rob but one I wholeheartedly agree with. Anderson joined Lazio in 2013 from Santos and has been improving season upon season. He reminds me of an upgraded Willian really as like his countryman he can play wide and is deadly with a free kick but he has more pace, can play on either wing and shoot with either foot. He gives any defence a real handful and would give both Willian and Pedro a real challenge for a place in the side. The surprise so far is that he's only played seven minutes of international football but then again Brazil have an overload of attacking midfielders at the moment.

Player: Xherdan Shaqiri

Nationality: Swiss (59 caps, 18 goals)

Age: 25

Club: Stoke City

There aren't many Premier League players on any of my shortlists but Shaqiri is certainly worth consideration and certainly deserves a bigger club than Stoke. After playing for Bayern Munich and Inter Milan it was a real shock when the Swiss winger signed for the Potters in the summer of 2015 for £12m after just seven months at the San Siro club. He's great at going past players and has great passing vision as well as a powerful shot. I'd happily double Stoke's money by paying at least £25m for him if necessary.

Player: Kingsley Coman

Nationality: French (11 caps, 1 goal)

Age: 20

Club: Juventus

Juve's French winger is currently on loan at Bayern Munich and is regarded as one of the brightest U21 talents in European football. After a youth career and professional debut with Paris St Germain he moved to Turin in 2014 when his contract with the French club expired. After 20 games and 1 goal in his debut Serie A season he moved to the Bundesliga on loan for the 2015-16 season with Bayern netting 6 times in 35 games – a fantastic achievement at such a young age. He's now in the second year of his two year loan deal and everyone in Europe is watching what will happen next summer. Will he return to the Juventus first team? Will Bayern make the loan permanent? Will he be available to move elsewhere? If so he would be ideal for Chelsea with a huge amount of pace and ability on the ball to terrorise any full back in the Premier League.

Player: Inaki Williams & Iker Muniain

Nationality: Spanish (1 cap) & Spanish (1 cap)

Age: 22 & 23

Club: Athletic Bilbao

I'm putting my 9th and 10th selections together as they really are an 'either/or' choice. Both play for Athletic Bilbao, both are Spanish (like most Bilbao players since you have to be Basque to play for them) and both have one cap. They are even only 18 months apart in age. Muniain broke into the Athletic team first in 2009 with 35 games that season and has been a regular ever since, amassing 282 appearances and 35 goals by the end of 2015/16. When he made his debut in 2009 he was their youngest ever player aged 17 years, 7 months and 11 days. His international experience is 16 minutes against Venezuela in February 2012. Williams didn't hit the first team until 2014 so only has two seasons under his belt but has been an exciting addition to the side. Last season he scored 13 goals in 37 games for Los Leones. Williams played 45 minutes of a friendly against Norway in March 2015. Either player would be a great addition to the side so I am unable to split them.

Who came close?

Marco Reus – German (29 caps, 9 goals) – 27 years old – Borussia Dortmund Nicolas Gaitan – Argentine (16 caps, 2 goals) – 28 years old – Atletico Madrid

Domenico Berardi – Italian (uncapped) – 22 years old – Sassuolo Breel Embolo – Swiss (15 caps, 2 goals) – 19 years old – Schalke 04

Jay Rodriguez – English (1 cap) – 27 years old – Southampton

Quincy Promes – Dutch (14 caps, 2 goals) – 24 years old – Spartak Moscow

Timo Werner – German (uncapped) – 21 years old – RB Leipzig

Dimitri Payet – France (32 caps, 8 goals) – 29 years old – West Ham United

Riyad Mahrez – Algerian (27 caps, 6 goals) – 25 years old – Leicester City

Karim Bellarabi – German (11 caps, 1 goal) – 26 years old – Bayer Leverkusen

Julian Brandt – German (4 caps) – 20 years old – Bayer Leverkusen