The Chelsea winger had his Celtic loan spell ended prematurely.
Charly Musonda has opened up about his difficult Celtic spell and says his heart is still set on breaking into Chelsea’s first team.
Musonda joined Celtic on an 18-month loan deal in January 2018 and was regarded as something of a coup for the Glasgow club.
But after making just eight appearances – only three of which came as a starter – the Belgian had his contract cut short a year early.
He later made another temporary switch, this time to one of Chelsea’s affiliate clubs Vitesse Arnhem, but sat out the bulk of last season with a knee injury.
The 23-year-old has appeared in all three of Vitesse’s Eredivisie fixtures so far, and reflecting on his career so far with The Independent this week, Musonda said of his Celtic Park experience: “It was very, very difficult.”
“It’s something you have to get over and try to not let it change you, but it was a very sad moment.
“It’s not like in six months I became a bad player. But when you’re a player who expresses yourself and has that bit of arrogance, criticism goes hand in hand. People say things like ‘he’s unprofessional’ but that’s football, people are always going to talk. It’s up to me to make things happen.
“I have no regrets about my time at Celtic. I have no problems with Brendan Rodgers (the then-Bhoys manager). He tried to develop me, he treated me well in training. You can’t dwell on it.”
Musonda’s Chelsea deal still has three years left to run.
And he added: “I know people will doubt me because, after a year-and-a-half, they don’t know if I’m still the same player.
“But deep down, I know how good I can be. I want to show the world what I can do and, if I prove I’m still the same Charly Musonda, I’m 100% confident I can break back into the Chelsea team.
“Maybe it’s me being a bit naive or overconfident or just believing I can do it, but that has been my dream since I was 15 years old and that’s never changed. I want to wear the Chelsea shirt one more time.”
Were Celtic too quick to judge Musonda?
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