Kasey Palmer and Isaiah Brown are helping Huddersfield Town battle for their first stint in the top flight in 45 years. The club hope Palmer and Brown are the beginning of a long relationship with Chelsea’s academy.
Isaiah Brown had a sharp reversal of fortune during the January transfer window. Chelsea recalled him from his loan at the Championship’s bottom-dwelling Rotherham, and re-loaned him to to the ambitious Huddersfield Town. Rotherham are now last and 13 points from safety. Meanwhile Brown and fellow Chelsea loanee Kasey Palmer are in third-place with the Terriers.
Brown scored in his first appearance for Huddersfield. He now his three goals in in six games, equalling his total from 20 appearances with Rotherham. Kasey Palmer has four league goals and three assists. Their contributions are meeting the expectations Huddersfield’s director of football operations Stuart Webber had when he approached Chelsea about the loans.
"I spoke to Michael Emenalo at Chelsea and told him exactly how Kasey Palmer and Isaiah Brown would fit into our team, how much they were likely to play and how we would try to develop them, both physically and mentally. – Telegraph"
Webber understands how the loan system should work better than many other managers and technical directors. He knows that if Huddersfield hopes to secure more loanees in the future, the players must return more experienced and match-ready. This means strong developmental training, proper fit with Huddersfield’s system and – most of all – consistent playing time.
"People such as Michael [Emenalo] at Chelsea… now trust us to look after their players, and I believe that model can still work for us if we get promoted to the Premier League."
Chelsea would benefit from a domestic loan partnership like they have with Vitesse Arnhem. Players can develop a lot in the Eredivisie, La Liga or other foreign leagues. Those leagues are particularly good for Chelsea youth to experience first-tier football.
Eventually, though, those prospects need to learn the English game at the senior level. Few academy products will – or should – make their league debut at Stamford Bridge. The more opportunities they have to play in the Football League, away from the pressures that come with Chelsea, the more easily they will take their place with the Blues.
If Huddersfield earn promotion and are willing to keep Kasey Palmer or Isaiah Brown, Chelsea should assent to a second season. The Blues should not repeat the mistakes they made with Tomas Kalas and Patrick Bamford.
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Part of Kalas’ and Bamford’s dissatisfaction with Chelsea stemmed from helping a team to the Premier League, only to be loaned back to the Championship. Keeping Palmer and Brown at Huddersfield would not only be best for them, but for the Chelsea-Huddersfield partnership.