Chelsea FC 2016/17 Player Preview: Kenedy

Chelsea fans did not see much of Kenedy during the recent pre-season tour. They should get used to not seeing much of the Brazilian defender.

Previewing Kenedy for the upcoming season requires one to sort through bare preseason matchday reports to ensure he’s A) still alive, B) well, and C) with Chelsea. After some efficient Googling, I can confirm all three to be true.

What’s murkier to investigate is when or where Kenedy will be on a pitch, in a kit and asked to play competitive football.

Kenedy’s pitch assignments under He Who Shall Not Be Named were the perfect amalgamation of Antonio Conte’s wingbacks at Juventus. Kenedy was deployed as both a capable left back and, less often, as a shifty winger. In either position, his raw ability was always readily on display. Trouble was that Kenedy proved incapable of showing anything less than three-parts raw for every one-part ability.

Kenedy is proof that simply acquiring a skill without the knowledge of when to use it makes it as useless as hiding it in the bottom of the sea. Kenedy desperately needs the investment of a good teacher. With Antonio Conte, he couldn’t have asked for a better one…except Conte doesn’t have the time.

Conte could have brought to Chelsea the seeds to grow a Bonucci / Barzagli / Chiellini back line. From that base he would install his 3-5-2, and comb Chelsea’s roster for a capable wingback. There, he would find a young but ready Kenedy.

But reality set in. Chelsea still does not have a new defender on the roster. Conte had no choice but to tinker immediately with traditional 4-man back lines, leaving Kenedy without a position or a way to get on the field.

Kenedy needs more care to be good enough at either position he played in last season. Given that Kenedy was last seen on the pitch in the final minute of regulation against the RZ Pellets, he will likely have to find that care outside of Chelsea.

Kenedy’s inevitable departure will be a shame. The club undertook a near herculean effort to get him to London and cleared to play. He has always rewarded Chelsea fans with tireless running and a refreshing fearlessness.

Kenedy is the man whose first match included him going shoulder-to-shoulder with Luis Suarez in the box, and winning. He is the first Premier League player bold enough to attempt, and pull off, an elastico. And he scored the fastest Premier League goal of the season (39 seconds).

But he will have to do his growing on his own.

Kenedy lacks a set position and the ability to slot in with minimal teaching. This is a tough sell to a manager who promised to return Chelsea to the Champions League after just one season away. With more time and a thorough defense, Conte could have turned some attention to the 20-year-old. Now it seems a certainty that he’ll be handed his boots and joining that text group message as the newest private in Chelsea’s Loan Army.