We heard positive words from Romelu Lukaku regarding the young striker's future following a chat with Jose Mourinho, and that would have implied to most that Mourinho was going to be speaking to Thibaut Courtious and Kevin de Bruyne as well. Not so, at least for the latter:

The most important thing for me is to play games. I know that I will be stressed when I play a few games on the bench. I always try to give my best for the team and I've had a great season, but also next season I need to play a lot of games. With the point of the World Cup, it's very important.



[Have I spoken to Mourinho?] Not yet, but I think the time will come. The season is over now. We will see what happens. -De Bruyne. Source: Sky Sports.

The differences between de Bruyne's situation and Lukaku's are fairly clear: Right now Chelsea have an abundance of talent in the midfield areas in which de Bruyne likes to operate and a total of zero world-class strikers. Even last year at West Bromwich Albion, Lukaku was used as a super-sub and did just fine. Meanwhile at Werder Bremen, de Bruyne was the focal point of his team, and he needs to keep up that level of play as we head into a World Cup year.

If Jose Mourinho sees de Bruyne as a semi-regular starter in this Chelsea side, then I hope he convinces his young charge to stick around. But if he's just depth, then it'd be better for player and club to give him a chance to showcase himself with next summer in mind.