5 Key Players For Chelsea in the Upcoming Season

We are nearing the start of another, potentially, beautiful Premier League campaign, although 1 month does seem like a lifetime.
Reading the Twitter newsfeeds of Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal over the last week or so, we all seem to be fairly excited about our clubs being back in action, monitoring physical and fitness changes, keeping an eye on new signings and even decisions of new managers.
What we’re witnessing season in and season out are changes being made throughout the league, that being part of the reason we anticipate the start of the season so strongly – We want to see if we’re better.
Needless to say, 16 days in the transfer window and we’ve already come across several players joining new clubs. In the financial giant that is the Premier League, there haven’t been huge names being brought in, although names like Jesus Navas, Fernandinho, Wilfried Bony, Kevin De Bruyne, Andre Schurrle and Iago Aspas are all sure to catch the eye of the Premier League enthusiast.
With regards to Chelsea, wholesale changes were made last season and the year prior to it.
We’ve seen huge, influential players leaving – Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda, Salamon Kalou and Ricardo Carvalho – being replaced with young, hungry technical masters of the game – Juan Mata, David Luiz, Eden Hazard, Oscar and Romelu Lukaku.
The latter are players that put in consistently exceptional performances in England, and in Europe. Let’s take a closer look at 5 Key Players For Chelsea in the Upcoming Season:
Juan Mata

He’s been nothing short of spectacular for Chelsea in the last two seasons, the little magician.
Born to create opportunities for people around him, Mata still finds himself scoring crucial, wonderful goals. A player with stats. that read – Played: 64 Goals:20 Assists: 35 – would be the focal point in any team, he is the main architect of majority of Chelsea’s goals, and next season will be no less important for Chelsea’s Spanish number 10.
Although there have been murmurs of Mourinho intending to sell Mata, rest assured, Mata will feature prominently in Chelsea’s starting XI come the start of the season, right to the finish. Mata’s game is one Mourinho has previously experienced in Real Madrid’s Mesut Ozil, and will form 2/3 of Chelsea’s attack.
He’s a very popular figure among his team-mates and fans, and just seems to get on with the job regardless of events that occur off the pitch.
David Luiz

Calamitous. That’s the word that described him best in October 2012, and even prior.
The Brazilian centre-back has had somewhat of an up and down relationship with the Premier League. The constant switching of formations may have had something to do with it, but Luiz has definitely replicated the form which earned him his move to Chelsea.
Bursting onto the scene as a frizzy haired joker, Luiz showed his more serious side on the pitch. Putting in exceptional performances in his first few games and instantly becoming a fan favourite, he dealt with his first reality check just 36 seconds into a game against the 2010/11 Premier League Champions, Manchester United. There on, it was difficult for Luiz to recover his best form, and never seemed to read the English game quick enough. He’d be caught time and again, players creeping up behind him and would play them all onside.
The more positive side was he showed maximum enthusiasm when wanting to learn and the enthusiasm paid off when Rafa Benitez was employed. He was moved into a defensive midfield role almost instantly, gained confidence with the amount of space around him, and was shifted back into a defence where he showed world class ability. He started measuring his headers, reading the game around him, encouraging players around him, took on freekick duty, and went on to score a few marvellous goals.
All in all, he now looks like the real deal, a modern day, dynamic defender that possesses skills that are considered compulsory in every top defender. Another very key player for Chelsea next season.
Eden Hazard

Many challenged Hazard to prove he was worth the £32.5m Chelsea paid for him last summer.
And boy did he shine.
The Belgian, once of interest to Chelsea’s current, and Real Madrid’s former manager, Jose Mourinho, Eden Hazard has taken English football by storm. His incredible pace and ability to dribble his way through a team earned him his price-tag, and brought his ability from the French League to the English League with no glitches whatsoever. He formed a third of Chelsea’s new look attack, and like Luiz, instantly became a fan favourite.
His exquisite ability to receive a ball with his back to the defender, and turning with the ball to pace his way in the opposite direction has helped Chelsea on a number of occasions, and will no doubt see Chelsea winning valuable points through it!
Mourinho, a fan of Hazard, has already let his number 17 know what he expects off him. Eden Hazard vaguely revealed a discussion which would ensure his place in the side:
“He loves his players. He laughs and jokes with them a lot out on the training pitch, and that’s good to see in a coach. To me he told me to be ambitious with my game, to try things and that, if I do that, I can do something special this year. I told him I wanted to do myself justice, to do as well as I can, and that is all he wants to see from all of us. I hope it will end up being productive.”
Needless to say, I’m sure we can all expect an explosive season from Hazard, topping his debut year in English and European football with Chelsea.
Oscar

The potential is there for all to see. He’s not your average midfielder, and at his age, he’s not a finished product.
However, Jose Mourinho may be the man to unlock Oscar’s true ability. He seems to love European football, which coincides with Roman’s apparent interest in European football.
The scorer of one of the best goals in Europe last season, Oscar shot onto the scene dancing a full circle around Andrea Pirlo, and lashing an effort towards Gigi Buffon’s top-left corner. The cheek!
Much has been said about Oscar’s most suited position, being played as a winger didn’t reveal Oscar’s best ability, and though people love seeing him play in Mata’s ’10′ position, many believe he’ll excel in a midfield pivot alongside a defensive midfielder. His main attributes lie in dictating a game, running past oppositional midfields and opening up gaps in which he is able to make quick decisions.
Much of this has not been seen because of him being persistantly played in an advanced role, where in English football, it’s almost impossible for a player to take even a split second longer to make a decision. For this reason, if played in a deeper role, Oscar may prove to be a key figure in any success Chelsea may experience in the upcoming campaign.
Romelu Lukaku

This is it. This is what he’s been waiting for.
The poor guy was forced to wait for his opportunity behind his idol Didier Drogba, a misfiring Fernando Torres, a struggling Sturridge and a poaching Kalou.
Now’s his time to shine. With Demba Ba and Torres being his only competition, it’s his opportunity to show the world what he’s about, and by the looks of it, he’s giving it everything he’s got.
Age has nothing to do with it, as Mourinho once said, it’s about an individual’s desire to bulldoze his way into being a regular starter, and Lukaku’s season at West Brom was a perfect advert to display his ability. He’s got every Chelsea fan waiting for him to outdo his season at West Brom, but in a blue shirt. Blessed with a physique most footballers would be intimidated of, the 19 year old Belgian forward is also blessed with exceptional strength and pace. His hunger for goals is not a joke, he wants to squeeze out the most of every ball that comes his way.
Again, this season is key for him and for Chelsea, it will determine whether putting his money where his mouth is was a wise decision, or whether his inexperience forced him to come out and sound more ready to play for Chelsea than ever.
A personal favourite of mine, Lukaku has been compared to the great Didier Drogba, however very little is of similarity in the technical department, and while Drogba proved his ability as an opportunist, Lukaku makes his presence known by his supreme ability to hold the ball, and release it to a player in a better position to score or to assist. Lukaku has also got much quicker feet, drawing another difference between himself and Drogba.
Overall, if his season turns out to be half as successful as his attempt to sound motivated and determined, we’re in for a cracker from the big guy.
So those were the 5 key players I think will be key in Chelsea’s season, let me know what you think!