From dazzling Belgian wingers to prolific homegrown centre-forwards, Chelsea’s youth squad is the envy of Europe. So why don’t they get a chance?
Antonio Conte could have been forgiven for wondering what sort of squad he was inheriting when he signed on the dotted line at Stamford Bridge this summer.
Eden Hazard, Nemanja Matic, John Terry and co may have performed nigh-on perfectly as Chelsea lifted their fourth Premier League title in 2015, but the same vaunted trio imploded last season. And that’s without mentioning Oscar, Pedro, Diego Costa and Gary Cahill. Conte’s Chelsea, therefore, remain something of an unknown quantity despite registering three wins from three.
And, if their summer business is anything to go by, the Chelsea hierarchy are thinking on a similar wavelength. Yes, N’Golo Kante and Michy Batshuayi have taken little time to justifying their hefty transfer fees, but the £34 million deadline day signing of an error-prone, almost universally derided centre-half just two years after the club sold him suggests Chelsea were growing increasingly desperate for new ‘talent’.
But, as Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne thrive elsewhere, are Chelsea making the same mistake once again? With 38 players currently out on loan at clubs ranging from Bristol City to Real Betis, which of Chelsea’s on-loan legion deserve a first team chance?
Tammy Abraham
Like Patrick Bamford and Domonic Solanke before him, Abraham appeared a shoe-in for a first-team role at the Bridge. But, like Bamford and Solanke, you wonder what effect the club’s constant fluctuations and managerial changes will have on the budding career of this London-born 18-year-old.
Prolific at youth levels, Abraham scored eight in nine as Chelsea stormed the UEFA Youth League before netting the winner in the FA Youth Cup final against Man City in April. Then again, reserve team exploits don’t necessarily translate onto the professional stage. Just ask Izzy Brown. Handed his Premier League debut against Liverpool by Guus Hiddink earlier this year, Abraham has demonstrated his vast potential on loan at Bristol City, netting four times in just five Championship games so far this season.
First-team football will undoubtedly prove beneficial to Abraham’s long-term prospects but Chelsea’s enduring short-termism means his lower-league exploits may well go unnoticed.
Baba Rahman
“Antonio Conte told me that he wants his team to be very defensive, but I am a rather offensive full-back,” the Ghanaian left-back told Ruhr Nachrichten upon joining Schalke on loan this summer, as reported by FourFourTwo.
“So I would have had very little playing time. Conte advised me to leave on loan.”
Now, we’re not suggesting new £24 million signing Marcos Alonso was a panic buy. The former Sunderland and Bolton full-back has evolved into one of Europe’s most effective wing-backs in recent years but the decision to ditch Baba Rahman after just one season in English football and replace him with a player of similar style appears rather harsh.
Despite a tendency to switch off defensively, the 22-year-old has time on his side and potential in bulk. Then again, Chelsea aren’t exactly known for their patience.
Bertrand Traore
Despite spending the current season on loan at four-time European champions Ajax, Bertrand Traore could consider himself rather unfortunate to have been whisked away from Stamford Bridge this season.
Traore remains something of a rough diamond, with erratic control and a tendency to be caught offside a primary concern, but a diamond nonetheless. Four goals in five games between January and March hinted at pure, goalscoring potential from the now 20-year-old, who Jose Mourinho described as “one of the best talents of his age” during Chelsea’s 2013 pre-season tour, according to the Daily Mail.
The Burkina Faso forward will be hoping a return to the Eredivisie, where he scored 14 times for Vitesse Arnhem two seasons ago, will have Conte professing similar proclamations of passion but, with Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi the only notable centre-forwards on Chelsea’s books, you wonder why Traore needed to prove himself at all as a back-up option. He’s done that already, surely.
Charly Musonda
Belgium may have their limitations but the wing is not one of them. Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard are not easy figures to oust, but young star Charly Musonda has his eyes on the throne.
‘I wish we had the option to buy him, he is fantastic,’ former Real Betis coach Juan Merino said at the end of last season, according to the Daily Mail. Despite only arriving in January, Champagne Charly’s tricks, flicks and effective end product made him the toast of Betis, dragging the Andalusian side into the shallow waters of mid-table.
Musonda demanded to leave the Bridge last December for guaranteed game time and engineered a return to Betis this season to maintain his upward trajectory. And, if there’s one man who can teach Musonda how to blaze in blue, its new Betis boss Gus Poyet.
But, a word of warning Chelsea – Musonda won’t wait around.
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