Chelsea FC and Dominic Solanke are currently in the midst of a public contract battle, but the club deserve no less after their poor treatment of youngsters.
The contract situation with Dominic Solanke has been a long time coming, let’s admit that. Too many of our youth team players have seen their contemporaries move on to the next level at other clubs and succeed in the colors of their respective nations while they sit on the Under-21 and Under-18 pitches waiting for their chance.
Each summer, they see the flashy cars of yet another multi-million pound signing pull up to the training ground to take what could be their place. Chelsea have spent far larger sums of money on players of equal age simply because they come from a foreign country and a foreign league with a big reputation. What we have with Solanke is a player who is simply trying to be recognized on the same level as many of his peers.
The problem is that at Chelsea Football Club our most talented youth players are sitting frustrated on the bench, not seeing their unheard of successes at every level progress into anything. The extent of the frustrations are evident.
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Firstly I should note before continuing with the article, I do not think that Solanke is negotiating in the brash style that he is because he wants to get out of the club. I played youth level football for a London club (not Chelsea unfortunately) for years before my own hopes were dashed by a knee injury. What every youth team player really wants in their heart is to wear the badge professionally of the club they’ve been sweating the afterschool hours and missing the parties, the booze, the cigarettes, the girls and the general teenage fun for.
Solanke’s situation strikes me more as a player who has seen all too often that quietly and patiently going about his work in a steadfast and humble manner does not seem to work at Chelsea. The club have cultivated that culture and while they are rebuilding the first team, they need to pounce on the opportunity to change this as well.
This situation is a cry for attention. It is important to note that Ruben Loftus-Cheek signed a new contract for £60,000 per week just this year and he is of the same age. Solanke and Loftus-Cheek played in the same team for a long time and thus see each other as contemporaries.
In fact, Solanke would point out that he has far more professional first-team experience than the midfielder. He (up to the point of this article’s writing) has made 24 appearances for Vitesse Arnhem while Loftus-Cheek has made only 16 for the Chelsea first team, the majority of which have been substitute appearances from the bench.
Personally, I think Solanke is deserving of a new contract and I would like to see him lead the line for Chelsea in the foreseeable future. This is quite a jump but the player he is most often compared to is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. If he turns out to be half as good as Zlatan’s left foot then we’ll have one of the better strikers in Chelsea’s history on our hands.
It is also important to note that Solanke has long been marked as one of the leaders of Chelsea’s all-dominant youth side and that should translate very well to the senior team. The reason why youth team play translates at a measurable level is because the players who they played against as youngsters often become their opponents at the next level as well.
Solanke, like Tammy Abraham (the other head of our goal scoring youth team), has dominated at every level that he’s played and thus he should be a great success in the Premier League. He is tall enough to be a threat in the air but not too tall that his touch and finesse on the ground are ruined (see Peter Crouch).
The forward is still a work in progress. At his age he will need to add weight, strength and the ever important match experience, but he is at that crossroads where the experience needs to be gained in proper leagues in order for him to develop into the player he should be.
In the end, Chelsea deserve the embarrassment that this negotiation going public has brought to the club. The only thing that might force management to take the kids seriously could very possibly be public scrutiny. Look at what Paul Pogba has achieved in Italy with Juventus. Dominant youth players in England are good. Very good. And should be given the chance to succeed.
Do I think a contract with a guaranteed £50,000 a week is a little heavy? Absolutely. Dele Alli makes £25,000 per week at Tottenham but the club brought it on themselves by giving Loftus-Cheek a deal worth £60,000. With that contract, the brass set the bar for youth team contracts and set the bar high. So if there is any fault with the way that Solanke has handled the situation it’s the fact that he has made it public, not the amount.
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Hopefully Chelsea can put this all behind them and give the striker a contract, a good and long one, and also some starts for the first team opposite Diego Costa. What is most important, though, is that the Blues learn to treat the kids with some humanity. They are people, not trading cards to be sent away to foreign countries far from their families, and managing the man is as important as managing the player. Chelsea must realise this.