Chelsea FC youngster Lucas Piazon came out with incendiary comments to ESPN Brazil yesterday, in which he blasted the club’s treatment of him and other youth prospects, and said that he wanted to leave. Even though he has since denied these words, it highlights a wider issue with the club’s youth policies.
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The midfielder said, ‘It will be a waste of time being there, play one game every two weeks. I would rather leave and play all games this year.
‘It was once meant for me to be the new number 6 at Chelsea. I would only stay for a while in Brazil, then I would go to England. But then I came back here, then I went back there.
‘I prefer to play for a team where I can develop myself and where I basically can play almost every week.’ (via The Express).
Following the publication of the comments, Piazon has backtracked and denied them. However, should it not be the case that his words be applauded?
The 21-year-old joined the Blues in 2012 and has only made 3 senior team appearances since his arrival. His time physically in West London has been minimal, and it would be surprising if he actually knew where Cobham was. Shortly after being signed he was shipped off to Malaga, then to Vitesse, then last season to Frankfurt.
Although he has been getting decent playing time at these clubs, his agitation can be understood. This evidently is not what he expected from the move to Stamford Bridge but more importantly, as much as it is a personal issue for Piazon, it illustrates a much wider problem with Chelsea’s youth policy.
Chelsea sent an incredible 31 players out on loan last season. 31. Some Premier League clubs struggle to register 25 for a full campaign. The club have even formed a separate pre-season training squad for all the potential loanees while they await their fate for the next year.
players are wasting away in Chelsea’s system while they could be making stars of themselves at other clubs
Furthermore, the majority of these players are in that 18-23 age band in which they should be breaking into the first team. Not at Stamford Bridge, though. Players are coming in and out of Cobham through a revolving door and with loan deals already announced for five or six youngsters, there is no sign of this stopping.
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Now, let’s clarify the concern here. It is not as much that Chelsea do loan these players out, but it is more that they seem uwilling to let them go permanently when they clearly have no real future in West London.
If a player is not up to standard for the senior squad, he should not be promoted. That is universally accepted. However, if that player is already 21 or 22 and doesn’t seem like threatening the first team, why can’t they just let them go? At least this would afford them the opportunity to start afresh at a new club.
To this you might argue that there is a chance that these players will become the future of the Blues. This is valid when there are only around ten players in such a situation. When the club is loaning out 31 players, there must be a good deal of them who will almost certainly not even touch the fringes of the squad.
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In this way, it was a relief to see Josh McEachran leave Chelsea for Brentford FC last week. His career at Stamford Bridge had hit a brick wall so it was evident that the midfielder needed to move should he want to make something of his footballing life. Furthermore, letting him go at the age of 22 means that he definitely has enough time to resurrect himself and get his career back on track.
He should be described as lucky, though. For the rest of the players he grew up with, they seem set to be endlessly recycled through the Chelsea loan machine. While fans may enjoy the luxury of having a essentially separate football club as back-up to the first team, from a professional perspective it is frankly shocking.
Now that Piazon has come out with these comments, whether he denies it or not, it would not be surprising to hear some more grumblings from others in the loan legion. The likes of Andreas Christensen, Marco Van Ginkel, Tomas Kalas, hell even Patrick Bamford are examples of talent that are wasting away in Chelsea’s system while they could be making stars of themselves at other clubs.
Unfortunately, the majority of youngsters will continue to be blinded by the bright lights of Stamford Bridge, but perhaps just maybe the current situation, and the first signs of dissent from within, will put off a few of them.
As much as it would be great to see the Blues monopolise the world’s most talented prospects, talent doesn’t not translate into quality like this.
Well done Lucas, whether you want to admit it or not.
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