Lucas Piazon is emerging as the most outspoken of Chelsea’s 38-man strong loan army. The young Brazilian offered himself once more as the lone voice of reason (and discontent) on the loan policy.
Lucas Piazon is closer than ever to Chelsea, geographically speaking, at least. He is spending his fifth loan spell just down the road at Craven Cottage, tacking Fulham onto his CV after Malaga, Vitesse (of course), Eintracht Frankfurt and Reading.
As he contemplates entering Chelsea’s record books for most loans (we’ll check with our historian to see who holds the title), Piazon is tiring of holding his tongue about his treatment. For the second time in a month, Piazon dropped the facade on life as a loanee.
"It’s hard. I got here at seventeen. I played for the U21s for one year to adapt. Then I spent six months with the first team. I played little, I had few opportunities. I was very young too, I had just turned eighteen…Then Mourinho arrived and I ended up having no more opportunities. So it’s hard, we go out and the club are always spending millions and millions buying more and more players and we end up getting no space. – SportWitness, translating from ESPN Brasil"
Piazon makes a trenchant observation about Chelsea’s player-personnel decisions: every multi-million pound transfer comes at the expense of a player in the development pipeline.
Clubs obviously need to bring in new players in the transfer window. Sometimes injuries and ambition override a club’s development plan, and an immediate purchase becomes necessary. In Chelsea’s case, those emergent situations usually lead to panic-buys (hello again, David).
But outside of those time-pressing transfers, clubs need to account for how each purchase will impact those players who are already progressing towards the lineup. This is especially true for a club like Chelsea. The large, deep and highly successful Academy is currently a feeder program solely for the loan army.
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Chelsea has truly urgent needs in the upcoming transfer windows. However, Chelsea has to factor in more than who is available for purchase at a club-record transfer fee.
Before deciding on a centre-back, Chelsea must determine that player’s impact on Andreas Christensen, Tomas Kalas and Jake Clarke-Salter. If Chelsea puts in a bid for Romelu Lukaku or Antoine Griezmann, what does that mean for Tammy Abraham? Or Lucas Piazon, for that matter?
Technical director Michael Emenalo has outright neglected these considerations throughout his tenure at Stamford Bridge. In his endless pursuit of the next shiny object to compensate for his most recent failings, he gives zero consideration to the academy and the loan army as a potential source of first-team players.
While Emenalo is out scouting which players he once sold that he can buy back at a multiple, Chelsea fans impatiently yet despondently look for the next John Terry.
Emenalo and Abramovich have accelerated the turnover among the playing and coaching staff. Emenalo has created stability for nobody but himself.
ESPN FC discussed yesterday Michael Emenalo’s ill-boding influence over Chelsea and Antonio Conte. Many of the commenters rushed to Emenalo’s defence, something this writer had never seen before.
The gist of their Emenalo apologia was that you cannot lay last year’s 10th place finish at Emenalo’s feet without crediting him for Premier League titles, the Champions League victory and numerous domestic cups. Fair enough.
But one commenter came within a hair of Emenalo’s crucial failure. He noted that the technical director should be a club’s point of constancy in the high-turnover world of players and managers.
So close.
Emenalo’s and Roman Abramovich’s failure is precisely that they have accelerated the turnover among the playing and coaching staff. Emenalo has created stability for nobody but himself. Chelsea have spent the last decade buying and selling players (sometimes the same player), and sacking and hiring managers (sometimes the same manager).
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A world-class technical director should be able to elucidate a line of succession for every position on the pitch. He should know where the club’s needs will be 1, 3 and 5 years down the road. He should have contingencies for transferring new players in, shifting existing players to new positions and promoting players from the academy and loan army to the first team.
Emenalo’s continued employment is a testament only to his influence with the board, not his competency at the job.
Lucas Piazon has been 100% spot on in both of his public statements on his time “at” Chelsea. He is surely not endearing himself to Emenalo and friends, which is just as well.
Piazon needs and deserves stability. A permanent transfer from Chelsea will be the best thing for his career. If needling management helps attain that, his pique is completely understandable.