MARKO MARIN
An agreement was reached in April 2012 to sign Marko Marin
from Werder Bremen. Both clubs agreed a fee and the 23-year-old
midfielder agreed personal terms.
Marin, a German international, will join Chelsea in the summer.
Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he moved to Germany with his family
at an early age and became a professional player at Borussia
Monchengladbach before moving north to Bremen in the summer of 2009.
He made 87 Bundesliga appearances for the club prior to agreeing to
sign for Chelsea, scoring 12 goals. He also played in the 2010 German
Cup Final when his side lost to Bayern Munich.
Able to play as winger as well as a central player, Marin is 5ft 7in
(170cm) in height and having played for Germany Under 21s, he made his
debut for the senior Germany side in May 2008 prior to being part of the
squad that won the European Under 21 championships in 2009.
For the senior team he made two substitute appearances during the
2010 World Cup in South Africa and had 16 caps and one goal to his name
at the end of the 2011/12 season.
EDEN HAZARD
Chelsea careerEden Hazard agreed terms to sign for Chelsea in June 2012 from Lille in France, where he had played since 2005.
He became the fourth Belgian to join the club following the arrivals of Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne.
Pre ChelseaBorn on 7 January 1991 in La Louviere, Belgium, both of Hazard's parents played football at a professional level.
After a youth career which saw him play for both Royal Stade Brainois and Tubize, he made the switch to Lille back in 2005.
Two years later, during the 2007/08 season, he made a handful of
substitute appearances, before the following campaign saw him really
make his mark and become a first team regular, earning him international
recognition and the Young Player of the Year award at only
17-years-old.
The 2009/10 season saw him shine once again, ensuring he was crowned
Young Player of the Year for the second successive season, while also
being named in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year.
The 2010/11 campaign was arguably his most memorable in a Lille
shirt, although it didn't start well. Hazard was publicly criticised by
Belgium coach Georges Leekens before being dropped for Lille and failing
to start a game for two months.
However, after forcing his way back into the side, he played an
integral role in inspiring the team to a league and cup double, while
also being crowned Player of the Year.
Glowing references from the likes of Zinedine Zidane only served to
enhance his stock, and it was almost inevitable that one day the biggest
clubs in Europe would come calling.
During his final season at Lille, when he was a team-mate of Joe
Cole, he scored 21 goals in 48 games and made 18 assists, as the club
finished third behind Montpellier and Paris St-Germain to make the
Champions League qualifying rounds.
He signed off in style after being handed the captain's armband for
his final game for Lille, scoring a memorable hat-trick against Nancy in
a devastating first-half display.
THORGAN HAZARD
The transfer of Thorgan Hazard from FC Lens was completed on 24 July 2012.
At
19 years of age on signing, Thorgan is two years younger than his
brother Eden, who joined Chelsea from Lille the same summer, but is of
similar height and build and plays a similar range of attacking
positions.
Thorgan too learnt his trade at a club in northern
France, having moved to Lens as a 14-year-old. He graduated into the
senior squad for the 2011/12 season and made his debut as a substitute
in the first league match of the season, going on to make 14 league
appearances in total.
A Belgian youth international, he
represented his nation at Under-16, Under-17, Under-18 and Under-19
level and played at the 2011 European Under-19 Championship.
Both
of Thorgan and Eden's parents were footballers, and Thorgan in his
early years was at the same club as his brother - Tubize in Belgium.
He initially joined Chelsea's Under-21 squad, managed by Dermot Drummy, to continue his pre-season training.
Should
they both play for the Chelsea first team, the Hazards will join a list
of previous Chelsea brothers - Ray and Graham Wilkins, Ron and Allan
Harris, John and Peter Sillett and Chris and William Ferguson.
OSCAR
Oscar, full name Oscar dos Santos Emboaba Junior, who will be 21 in September, signed on 25 July 2012.
He is a Brazilian international who played for two clubs in his homeland prior to his move.
Having
come through the youth system at Sao Paulo, he graduated to the first
team in 2008, the same year he was part of the Brazil side that won the
Under-17 World Championships. That feat had also been achieved the
previous year.
His time at Sao Paulo came to an end in December
2010 with a move to Internacional, a club based in Porto Alegre in the
very south of the country. In 2011 and 2012 they won the local state
championship and Internacional also used Oscar as a substitute in the
2010 FIFA Club World Cup, the competition to be contested by Chelsea in
December, although they suffered a shock defeat by Congolese side
Mazembe.
Oscar, who played international football at every level
from Under-15 to Under-20, made his debut for Brazil's senior side in
September 2011, coming on as a substitute in a 0-0 draw against big
rivals Argentina.
He made his full debut in a win over Denmark in
May and his most recent cap, his sixth, was in June when he scored his
first international goal although Brazil were beaten 4-3 by Argentina in
New Jersey, USA, as Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick.
Oscar's
most notable moment on the international stage so far was in the final
of the Under-20 World Cup in Colombia when he scored a hat-trick in a
3-2 extra-time win against Portugal.
A 5ft 10in (1.79m)
attacking midfielder who can play wide, he has a reputation for good
pass-and-move football, protecting the ball and choosing the right
moment to play passes.
He was part of Brazil's squad at the London Olympics.