Bertrand Traore to Ajax: Positive development or another loan failure?

Bertrand Traore signed a three-year contract with Chelsea one day after being loaned to Ajax. Here are two ways to look at Traore spending another season away from Chelsea.

Chelsea supporters should be used to this by now. It is a very familiar story. A young player works hard from dawn till dark throughout the off-season and pre-season. He becomes a fixture at the training ground, and looks sharp for the upcoming season.

Everything is going great. He’s making the progress that clubs are supposed to reward.

Then Chelsea buy some foreign import for a large sum of money and all of the homegrown player’s hard work and success is brushed off as meaningless.

Chelsea repeated this storyline again by sending Bertrand Traore to Ajax. There are some positives in this storyline. Traore to Ajax shows greater situational awareness from the often tone deaf Michael Emenalo. But that is poor consolation. Chelsea fans would rather stop seeing these loans than rationalize “at least it’s not as bad as those other ones!”

Point: Michael Emenalo finally gets a loan right

Peter Bosz is the positive here. The former Vitesse Arnhem (Chelsea B) boss has taken over from Frank De Boer at Ajax. He and Bertrand Traore have a good relationship from their time at Vitesse. Two years ago Peter Bosz helped transition Traore from winger to center forward with great success.

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Generally the issue with the Chelsea loan policy is the scatterbrain, spray and pray, ridiculousness of it all. Chelsea’s academy produces many young prospects. Then the club goes out and buys experienced players who block their ascent to the first team. Michael Emenalo simply needs to get the home-grown players out the door lest Cobham begin to look like a small army encampment and not a football club training ground.

This completely insane, short-sighted approach to player development has three significant consequences. First, Chelsea have not had a successful youth-to-first-team player in almost 20 years. And he will retire soon.

Second, young players are beginning to turn the club down and request permanent transfers. In some cases, they want to stay at their foster club because they were welcomed so warmly (Tomas Kalas springs to mind).

Finally, and most damning, young careers are ruined in this meaningless process.

Traore’s move to Ajax looks to be the rare loan that will benefit his career. Ajax are one of the best clubs for youth players in Europe. Countless great players have come out of Amsterdam. There is no Barcelona without Ajax – that is a fact. The combination of a supportive club, a familiar face in Peter Bosz and Ajax’s participation in European competition should keep Chelsea supporters from pulling out too much hair on this issue.

Counter-point: Bertrand Traore deserves better

This is stupid. Bertrand Traore is more than ready to be working with the Chelsea FC first team. He is every bit as good as £33 million man Michy Batshuayi. Maybe even a little bit better. Yet somehow Traore’s perseverance, work ethic, talent and loyalty are rewarded with a trip to Amsterdam and not any first team time.

Once more, Chelsea passes the cost of their transfer profligacy on to a youth player who earned his keep at Chelsea’s U18, U21 and “B” team (aka, Vitesse). Chelsea overpaid for Michy Batshuayi so the club handed Traore a cup of hemlock to seal the books on his young career.

If Traore earned 20 Chelsea appearances in cup and league games this season it would have been better for his career than another season learning just how little the club respects him. Considering that Traore has four goals in 16 appearances for Chelsea and 17 goals in 35 appearances for Vitesse, the Blues would get a solid offensive return on his playing time.

Next: Predicted 4-3-3 Chelsea team for West Ham: Antonio Conte era begins

Chelsea sends a distinct message every time they send a player away on loan instead of keeping them at home, teaching them and caring for them: we’re just not that into you. Chelsea’s deplorable man-management has been happening for too long, and it is tragically claiming another victim in Bertrand Traore.