Charly Musonda looked to have missed out on an excellent opportunity when he snubbed Celtic to fight for his place at Chelsea this season.
Just a matter of weeks ago, Charly Musonda’s decision to snub Celtic and fight for his place at Chelsea looked a little foolhardy.
After all, it is a frequently cited fact that John Terry was the last academy graduate to become a first-team regular at Stamford Bridge over a number of years. Therefore, interest from Celtic, as reported from The Mail, appeared to offer an excellent opportunity to a player who had not even made his first-team bow for the Premier League champions before this season.
Celtic could offer regular first-team football, Champions League experience, any number of domestic trophies and the opportunity to work with former Chelsea academy coach Brendan Rodgers, one of the best managers around when it comes to getting the best out of young players.
Yet, with his only Chelsea outing in the first month of the season being a few fleeting seconds of the home defeat to Burnley, it seemed Musonda had perhaps made a mistake to the detriment of his own development.
Ready for the big time
Flash forward a few weeks, however, and everything has changed. The 20-year-old not only started his first Chelsea game against Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup last week but scored his first goal too – drilling home from an angle to spark wild celebrations.
And, now, The Standard is reporting that Chelsea are hoping to reward the youngster with a new contract. Musonda’s current deal expires in 2019 and, while initial negotiations took place earlier in the year, he wanted to wait and see how he fit into Antonio Conte’s plans.
However, after being rewarded for his excellent display against Forest with a place on the bench for Saturday’s 4-0 Premier League win at Stoke City, Conte has made clear that Musonda has a big future at Stamford Bridge.
Maybe he didn’t need that Celtic lifeline after all.
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