It’s one of the great ‘sliding doors’ moments in modern English football.
In January 2010, Nottingham Forest came within touching distance of signing a young Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur.
Three months later, the much-maligned Welshman finally unlocked his potential, exploding onto the scene with a devastating performance in a 2-1 victory over Arsenal, a game perhaps best remembered for that Danny Rose wondergoal.
The rest, as they say, is history.
“The young lad I saw initially had some confidence issues,” former Tottenham team-mate Peter Crouch told The Mail. “(He) had not enjoyed playing at left back
“The talk was that he was going to go to Nottingham Forest for £2 million. Then, though, he started to find his feet. He got faster, stronger.”
Chelsea’s own Gareth Bale story?
There are certainly similarities between Bale’s rapid resurgence in North London and the remarkable rise enjoyed by Trevoh Chalobah at Stamford Bridge.
The Express and Star reported in June 2021 that West Bromwich Albion were ‘closing in’ on a deal for the former Huddersfield Town and Ipswich loanee.
The Baggies entered talks with Chelsea during the summer transfer window. And, at the time, it seemed inevitable that Chalobah would be on his way out the door.
That was, however, until Chalobah caught Thomas Tuchel’s eye with some impressive performances in pre-season.
And, as Chelsea followed up their Champions League triumph with another European trophy – adding the UEFA Super Cup to an enviable collection of silverware – Chalobah’s faultless performance against Villarreal was to him what that mesmerising display against Arsenal was to Bale.
“Wow, he looks good. I watched him against Villarreal. I thought: ‘My god, he’s really good’,” Premier League legend Ian Wright said at the time.
“You know who he reminded me of? Not the same player, not the same stature, but Virgil van Dijk when he played for Celtic.”
It is seven months since that West Brom move collapsed. And Chalobah is now closing in on his 30th appearance of a breakthrough campaign at the European champions.
Another impressive performance in place of the injured Andreas Christensen on Wednesday night helped Chelsea reach the Champions League quarter-finals at Lille’s expense.
Chalobah might not have scored an iconic hat-trick at the San Siro. Real Madrid are not weighing up a world-record transfer. But, like Bale all those years ago, Chalobah is walking, talking, tough-tackling proof of football’s most fickle tendencies.
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