Chelsea what ifs: Kevin De Bruyne and company never leave

Jose Mourinho’s second stint at Chelsea saw several future greats leave the club. What if Kevin De Bruyne and company had stayed at the club?

Jose Mourinho’s return to Chelsea was heavily desired after Rafa Benitez, but some forward thinking fans knew there would be causalities. Mourinho simply does not play young players often and Chelsea fans had desired that for long before recent times.

Nevertheless, Mourinho came in and won trophies as he used to do. There were players that simply did not fit his plans, such as Juan Mata and Filipe Luis. But the ones that sting the most are the young players that went on to be stars elsewhere.

Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku packed it in during Mourinho’s tenure. Mohamed Salah left after Mourinho, but the damage was largely done under Mourinho Mk II. How would Chelsea have looked had the three stayed and fought it out through to Guus Hiddink and Antonio Conte?

De Bruyne opts to stay and fight it out after his talk with Mourinho just a few months into the latter’s first season back at the club. Juan Mata’s departure makes things somewhat easier, but the Belgian still has an uphill battle to prove himself to his manager.

Later, Lukaku decides he will fight it out with Diego Costa for a starting role. This prompts the club to avoid signing Didier Drogba back to the club. Late that season when Costa is injured, it is Lukaku pulling the club over the line with De Bruyne still making occasional appearances when Oscar is not fit or needs resting.

Mohamed Salah gets the worst of it. His performances at Chelsea under Mourinho were not good by any means and his loans still happen. The only difference is he decides to stay under Antonio Conte when Mourinho is sacked at the end of Chelsea’s 2015/2016 season (the only difference from reality being Lukaku and De Bruyne keeping Chelsea bobbing around Europa League spots all season).

Conte arrives and brings in his 4-2-3-1/4-4-2/4-2-4 formation he attempted to start the club off with in reality. After it becomes obvious that it will not work, he switches to a three at the back formation. Pedro never joined Chelsea in this reality because of Salah’s presence, so it makes far more sense for Conte to shape the club into the 3-5-2 he had become famous for at Juventus.

This allows Conte to play Lukaku up top with Costa with Eden Hazard in between. Occasionally, De Bruyne will play instead of Lukaku, making it a 3-4-2-1 or he will simply play over Hazard when the latter Belgian needs a day off. Oscar is still surplus and is allowed to depart to China.

Salah simply does not have much of a place in this situation. With Willian, De Bruyne, and Hazard ahead of him and the formation not creating much of a role otherwise, he returns to Italy just as he would be arriving at Liverpool in real life. Without Jurgen Klopp to unlock him, however, Salah becomes a footnote in Premier League history rather than a main paragraph.

Chelsea still win the title that season under Conte and his flexible tactics, but only Lukaku comes out of the entire ordeal looking like a world class player (despite his frequent hiccups). De Bruyne seems good, but Chelsea feels they can do better. Salah was allowed to leave with little fanfare as his career failed to take off in Blue.

Lukaku and De Bruyne, and the allowance they afford Conte, do let the Italian keep his job into a third season with Champions League football. Costa’s departure forced Conte to utilize De Bruyne more in a 3-4-2-1 shape seen occasionally but not often the previous season. Conte goes into his third season looking to rebuild the squad more in his image.

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