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It wasn’t long ago that Chelsea spent transfer windows throwing money around like a lottery winner in a pub, but it’s a different story these days. Only last year Roman Abramovich splurged £50million on Fernando Torres and it looks as though he’s learned his lesson on that one. Chelsea are taking a more long-term and distinctly Belgian approach to adding to their squad with the signings of Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku and, potentially, Kevin de Bruyne. But who’s leaving and who’s staying?

Dave Kidd of The People can’t see Chelsea repeating last year’s spree. “I don’t see anything like that happening with Chelsea. I think they are showing a bit more long-termism with these Belgian kids they keep signing, and I do think that they really are inclined to stick with [manager André] Villas-Boas for next season and beyond. They’re showing a lot more patience than they have done before and I think that by looking at De Bruyne and a lot of these younger players, there’s definitely been a shift in their policy.”

Speaking of De Bruyne, Duncan White of the Sunday Telegraph thinks he’s one for the future. “I’ve seen him play for Genk and he’s quite slight and skilful, and he’s got a lot of potential. But it seems like it’s been decided he’s going to be staying at Genk [for the rest of the season] and then going out on loan for the whole of next season. That’s the same thing they did with Courtois, the goalkeeper. They’re getting hold of the asset early and then trying to help him develop as much as possible.”

De Bruyne isn’t the only midfielder on Villas-Boas’ radar, with Shakhtar Donetsk’s Willian reportedly interested in a move to London.

“Willian was offered to Villas-Boas in August and he decided not to go for him then as he wanted to get [Juan] Mata,” says the Daily Telegraph’s Jason Burt. “Villas-Boas is a very interesting manager in the transfer market because he’s very methodical. He doesn’t like to rush into anything, he likes to think things through. He likes to look at the market and consider what all the clubs are doing around Europe, he doesn’t just think about Chelsea. Willian’s obviously been offered to him and he’s thinking about it, and they might go back in for him.”

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