Chelsea FC fans have been flying to close too the sun after such a great month. Bertrand Traore stepped in to bring everyone back down a bit.
Bertrand Traore, on loan at Ajax, is apparently unhappy that he is not at Chelsea this season. The Burkinabe striker looks at his parent club, sees Nathaniel Chalobah and Victor Moses emerging from their multiple loans to become Chelsea regulars, and wonders why not him.
Traore did not mince words describing his predicament.
"I felt, and feel, that I am ready for Chelsea. I did not see the loan overall (picture). Why did I play so much in pre-season? Why was I allowed to participate so often under Guus Hiddink? Why do young players get no real chance at Chelsea? It’s good for the composition of the squad if it is also home to a couple of talented youngsters. – Evening Standard"
And that’s all well and good. Traore confirms the narrative that Chelsea mishandle their youth. Admittedly, the club has been atrocious on that front for far too long. But when you step back and calmly assess Traore and his argument, his standing begins to crumble away.
Yes, Traore was ready for Chelsea. He proved that with good performances last season. But why exactly did Hiddink give him minutes in the first place last season? Diego Costa and Loic Remy’s injuries, suspensions, and all around poor form. Without the two men ahead of him taking themselves out of the picture, how much would Traore have realistically played? Not a great deal.
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Back in the preseason, under a new manager, Traore had several games to show that he should remain with the squad. Players such as Victor Moses and Nathaniel Chalobah both proved enough to stay with the squad. Traore did not, proving he needed more minutes to improve.
Fast forward to this season. Diego Costa and Michy Batshuyai are the strikers that would be ahead of Bertrand Traore if Antonio Conte kept him on the squad. How many minutes would he earn away from these two?
Traore’s hypothetical is even weaker considering that he would not even be first among the back-ups to Costa and Batshuayi. Ruben Loftus-Cheek (the striker version) and Dominic Solanke. Both have barely played this season. Both are in the same spot Traore would have been in had he stayed.
The next part is the most infuriating: “Why do young players get no real chance at Chelsea?”
Well, Bertrand, you did get your chance.
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The end of last season and most of preseason in fact. Far more chances than both Moses and Chalobah saw, yet they remain at the club and have become vital members. They both came back from years of loans, put their head down and did what they had to do for Conte to keep them. Traore, simply, did not do the same.
Which brings us up to the present. Traore is playing in a league that he should be tearing up. But he is not. At best, he is an above-average player in a below-average league. At worst, he fits right in.
Juxtapose that with Tammy Abraham. Last year, Abraham was below Traore in the depth chart. Abraham went to a league tougher than the Eredivisie. Yet Abraham is crushing it whilst Traore is coasting and lamenting his lack of opportunity.
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Frankly, this sound like comments from a boneheaded young player that has not thought about how he got to where he is. Rather than going through the motions, maybe he should be leading Ajax to titles. “I want to win all there is to win with Ajax and to be important for the team,” he says. Maybe it is time to start acting like it and stop lamenting about a lack of opportunity.