Swan's Ki will be a decent box 2 box CM player. Won't be too expensive.
Mind Swans were more impacted by Asia cup than ACON or City's buy.
That would be a Victor Moses-like signing. Good player, does a job, not as young as Moses that's granted but you get the point I am making. Ki over a youth player? No thank you (though I can't deny I am a fan of Ki).
It's a drum that has been played with thus far unfulfilled hope, but I do genuinely believe we have finally got youth players who can make the step up, and if we manage to wrap up the league, we will definitely see a few young lads getting the time. One thing people forget is that Jose is not going to throw in youth players for the sake of youth, and he also isn't going to accept youth players who don't take their chance. He wants the mental strength from the beginning, and that's how you find the stars not just decent players. There will be the argument of the young lads needing experience to grow, and that is true, but Chelsea don't have the luxury of being able to throw in inexperience in any old game - we aren't Barcelona or Bayern and we don't dominate games to such an extent where this approach is possible. People can also get carried away; they see 30 or so youth players that are very promising and assume every single one can make it - this is not the case we have to be realistic as fans.
We can name a multitude of names, but I think it is beyond doubt that Loftus-Cheek and Solanke are young lads who have a lot of potential to live up to (and as a side note, these guys excite me far more than McEachran did, and seemingly don't have attitude problems to match). Solanke may well be playing against Arsenal this weekend with Drogba, Remy and Costa all out (though I imagine one may well be just about fit in time). Isiah Brown is also a fantastically talented young lad who I am sure we will see before the end of the season (and we do have boys on loan, Bamford especially, who are very exciting as well).
The point I am making is for once in the Ambramovich era we have a situation where we can look to youth first before looking to the cheque book. I have to admit, I do see the possibility of us making a big summer signing, probably one in midfield, as very likely, but I also see players from the reserves becoming the squad players that will be able to meaningfully challenge the players in our squad. Remember, Jose has favourites, but they are favourites because the always perform, not out of personal bias. If a young player is good enough, Jose will play him. Summer will be interesting.
Couldn't be bothered to start a new topic so I just wrote the youth tirade here.