Patrick Bamford Misfortune Could Be Chelsea FC’s Gain
Patrick Bamford announced that he will leave Crystal Palace imminently after a fruitless spell, but could he help rescue Chelsea FC?
Chelsea loanee Patrick Bamford announced that he would be terminating his loan deal with Crystal Palace. In somewhat bizarre circumstances, he revealed this to the press before informing his manager Alan Pardew. Furthermore, despite his comments coming around 24 hours ago, neither the Blues nor the Eagles have confirmed any such development.
However, with his disastrous situation widely acknowledged, it is only a matter of time before the severance is officially announced. Especially because it is believed that Chelsea do have the option to recall the youngster in January.
While Bamford may be incredibly frustrated with how his loan move has panned out, each cloud has a silver lining.
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Chelsea are in a dire spot at the moment, sitting just three points above the relegation zone. The Blues have already seen their manager, their Special One, Jose Mourinho, be sacked and replaced with Guus Hiddink. It is safe to say that the club are in turmoil.
Defensive problems plagued the first quarter of the campaign, as even John Terry failed to find any sort of acceptable form. Branislav Ivanovic also came in for particular criticism while Asmir Begovic was called upon to save face on numerous occasions.
While defensive concerns have since eased, the Blues are still struggling immensely in attack. They are simply failing to hit the back of the net consistently. There have been gluts in which five or six goals have gone in over two games, but when they have needed to score the one goal to get a result, the club have not managed too.
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Diego Costa has been truly awful, appearing to be more concerned with fighting the opposition than fulfilling his duties as a striker. More irritatingly, he bagged a brace against Watford only to pick up his fifth caution for a senseless challenge and trigger a suspension. He cannot put a foot right.
Loic Remy, meanwhile, was criminally underused by Jose Mourinho and has been struck by the same misfortune that plagued his season last time out. An opportunity to start in a huge fixture presented itself, but the Frenchman succumbed to injury.
Third-choice Radamel Falcao has been quite literally non-existent.
With all these issues, Bamford may find that the stars are finally aligning to be part of the Chelsea squad. Thoughts about him parachuting straight into the starting line-up are the stuff of fantasy, but with two out the squad’s three strikers seemingly always unavailable, a spot on the bench is certainly a possibility.
The key thing to remember here is that Bamford is both 22-years-old and a proven goalscorer. Last season, the striker won the Championship Player Of The Year as he helped Middlesbrough to the play-offs.
Furthermore, with Palace’s existing plethora of frontmen, a competition for playing time was noted when the move was announced. Unfortunately, Bamford could not impress Pardew enough to make him drop one of his trusted strikers and with the Eagles fifth in the league, he had no reason to.
Chelsea have little to lose at the moment as hopes of the top four, or even top six, fade away. At Bamford’s age he desperately needs playing time right now. Hence this seems like an opportunity that cannot be missed.
Most of the discussion over the past 24 hours have been centred around the Englishman’s next destination and whether a Premier League club would be willing to take him. However, there is value in exploring the option in which Bamford stays at Stamford Bridge and is utilised in the support striker role.
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Having said that, should such a route be followed, it is imperative that the youngster does receive the required playing time. Bamford is at a pivotal point in his career and another three months wasting away on the bench, either in West London or anywhere else in the world, will destroy his prospects of becoming the top level striker that he has always promised.