Saúl Ñíguez

LilyWhiteSpur

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Sorry this is the only thread I could find for him in the football forum.

It seems like he's in the wilderness at Chelsea. After this poor 1st half on his debut, he's not been seen since! Highly rated as I recall, what happened to him? How was his last season at Atletico?
He is only on loan, apparently misses Spain, will be back there in January I suspect.
 

JB08

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Disaster avoided from our perspective, I suppose.
 

Idxomer

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Sorry this is the only thread I could find for him in the football forum.

It seems like he's in the wilderness at Chelsea. After this poor 1st half on his debut, he's not been seen since! Highly rated as I recall, what happened to him? How was his last season at Atletico?
He was never that good, his loan is going as expected.
 

DWelbz19

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Sorry this is the only thread I could find for him in the football forum.

It seems like he's in the wilderness at Chelsea. After this poor 1st half on his debut, he's not been seen since! Highly rated as I recall, what happened to him? How was his last season at Atletico?
It was always a punt of a transfer. Chelsea only got him in as cover, he had lost his place in the starting XI for Atletico, and wasn’t called up for the Euros/Olympics for the NT.

Just never lived up to his potential, I suppose. Dined out for a while on the image of his CL performances every now and again.
 

Dancfc

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It was always a punt of a transfer. Chelsea only got him in as cover, he had lost his place in the starting XI for Atletico, and wasn’t called up for the Euros/Olympics for the NT.

Just never lived up to his potential, I suppose. Dined out for a while on the image of his CL performances every now and again.
Yep, Simeone wouldn't have let him go on loan if he was still at his peak and more importantly he wouldn't have come here if he was still that good knowing he had a fight to even make first sub.

Hopefully as the season goes on he can become a reliable member of the squad but right now he looks out of his depth unfortunately.
 

WeePat

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He was brought in as the de facto 4th choice midfielder, or so it seemed. He quickly fell down the pecking order behind Loftus-Cheek and even Barkley.
 

Jaxa

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I think it’s an example of how amazing Chelsea’s midfield are that he’s not even had a sniff,

He’d be playing every week for us
 

Idxomer

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I think it’s an example of how amazing Chelsea’s midfield are that he’s not even had a sniff,

He’d be playing every week for us
He got a sniff against Aston Villa and was the worst player on the pitch from either team.
 

Aidan Azar

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He's looked absolutely hopeless every time he's played so far. I'll have forgotten he ever played for us in a couple of years.
 

Acrobat7

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He is still living off of that one goal against Bayern in the perception of a lot of people.
 

Zaphod2319

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He holds the ball too long and seems to have no peripheral vision that players are closing in. I hope he does go back in January, but he has said he wants to stay at Chelsea.
 

Dave Smith

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Looks lost in England. Could see him back in Spain in Jan if there is a get out otherwise he is going to waste a season.
 

SirReginald

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Kovacic is possibly the only loan in the RA era that really paid off. I had reservations when we made the deal. It’s nice to have a lot of depth in midfield but he is definitely being paid more than his contributions to the club.
 

yumtum

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He's looked absolutely hopeless every time he's played so far. I'll have forgotten he ever played for us in a couple of years.
You guys have form with really odd loans, always remember you signing Quaresma and the highly rated Fabio Paim.
 

Lay

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I said it in the summer. He’s nowhere near as good as people think. That Bayern goal skewed a lot of opinions
 

WeePat

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You guys have form with really odd loans, always remember you signing Quaresma and the highly rated Fabio Paim.
I had to look that guy up. I have no idea who he is.
 
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lefty_jakobz

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He's been here less than half a season so the jury's still out.
Takes time for some players to adjust to the physicality of the PL, if he’s determined to stay maybe judge him after a full season?
 

jakko

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He was brought in as 4th choice but then Loftus Cheek performances have been brilliant which made it even harder for him to play.
I never wanted us to get another midfielder anyway, i had faith in Loftus Cheek.
 

Bearded One

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Football fans are usually not able to resist the temptation of judging a player in his first season. I hand learned to do that a while back.
 

Demyanenko_square_jaw

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He seems like a player that came out at a good level early and played some of his best football, then stopped improving just as you expect a midfielder to up a level or two. Simeone was starting to rotate him a lot last season.

That said, his situation right now looks more like a player that isn't wanted at all/or needed in the first place tactically, or has checked out in training ( probably not though if he's said he wants to stay). You can't judge someone who has proven to be very solid at the level he has on so little game time, at least in terms of it being a "not good enough for any big english team" situation.
 

Lash

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Still can't convince me he wouldn't be better than Fred or Scott this season, regardless of how poor his Chelsea seasons going.
 

ZolaWasMagic

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You guys have form with really odd loans, always remember you signing Quaresma and the highly rated Fabio Paim.
Pato. Maniche. Falcao. Higuain. Only a handful of loans were any good. Infact, Panucci and Weah only two i really rated
 

OmarUnited4ever

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With Tuchel seeming to trust RLC and Barkley more, seems a bit pointless to keep him.
There was Kante, Jorginho & Kovacic, with RLC staying, Saul acquisition seemed strange, unless the club though he would perform well & compete for a starting spot alongside Jorginho